Jean Gaumy (born 1948) is a French photographer and filmmaker who has been associated with

Magnum Photos Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in New York City, Paris, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David "Chim" Seymour, Maria Eisn ...

since 1977 who has specialised in depictions of isolated or confined communities and groups.

Early life and education

Jean Gaumy was born on 28 August 1948 in Royan Pontaillac (

Charente-Maritime Charente-Maritime () is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region on the southwestern coast of France. Named after the river Charente, its prefecture is La Rochelle. As of 2019, it had a population of 651,358 with an area of 6,864 square kil ...

), France. He attended schools in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

and Aurillac, then undertook his higher education in Rouen, before working as editor and freelance photographer in the Paris-Normandy area.

Career

Gaumy was a member of the Viva agency before he was recruited for French Gamma in 1973 by

Raymond Depardon Raymond Depardon (; born 6 July 1942) is a French photographer, photojournalist and documentary filmmaker. Early life Depardon was born in Villefranche-sur-Saône, France. Photographer Depardon is a mainly self-taught photographer, as he bega ...

. In 1975 he undertook extended documentation of subjects never before broached in France; the first, "L’Hopital" was published in 1976; the second, "Les Incarcérés", on French prisons was made in 1976 and published in 1983 with extracts from his personal journal written in the first person. In 1976 his work was noticed by Marc Riboud and

Bruno Barbey Bruno Barbey (13 February 1941 – 9 November 2020) was a Moroccan-born French photographer. Throughout his four-decade career he traveled across five continents, photographing many wars. Life and work Barbey was born in Morocco. His father was ...

Rencontres d’Arles The Rencontres d’Arles (formerly called ''Rencontres internationales de la photographie d’Arles'') is an annual summer photography festival founded in 1970 by the Arles photographer Lucien Clergue, the writer Michel Tournier and the historia ...

and at their invitation in 1977 he joined Magnum.

''Pleine Mer''

In 1984 Gaumy started a cycle of winter voyages aboard so-called "classic"

trawlers Trawler may refer to: Boats * Fishing trawler, used for commercial fishing * Naval trawler, a converted trawler, or a boat built in that style, used for naval purposes ** Trawlers of the Royal Navy * Recreational trawler, a pleasure boat built t ...

which continued until 1998 and led to the publication in 2001 of ''Pleine Mer'' ("Men at Sea"). Gaumy was aware that the open-deck trawlers, the boats on which he was photographing, were disappearing, like the Portuguese schooners that had fished for cod on the

Grand Banks The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a series of underwater plateaus south-east of the island of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. The Grand Banks are one of the world's richest fishing grounds, supporting Atlantic cod, swordf ...

, their men line-fishing from open

dories A dory is a small, shallow-draft boat, about long. It is usually a lightweight boat with high sides, a flat bottom and sharp bows. It is easy to build because of its simple lines. For centuries, the dory has been used as a traditional fishin ...

; competition from South American fishing vessels was too strong. Peter Nichols commended Gaumy's project and the book in a July 2002 '' Guardian'' review; "''Men at Sea'' is both a rare and a beautiful book, and an archival testament of a world fast slipping away. Or already gone." François Cardi's 2014 paper on the sociology of deepwater fishing uses an extended analysis and comparison of the earlier mid-century fishing-boat imagery of

Anita Conti Anita Conti ( arm, Անիթա Գոնթի; ''née'' Caracotchian) (17 May 1899 – 25 December 1997) was a French explorer and photographer, and the first French female oceanographer. Biography Anita Caracotchian was born in Ermont in Seine-et-Ois ...

with that of Jean Gaumy.

Filmmaker

In 1984 Gaumy made his first film ''La Boucane'', and it was nominated for a César in 1986 for best documentary. He followed it with other film all broadcast by French and European televisions, and winning further awards. In 1986 he made his first trip to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

during the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, continuing visits there until 1997. His film ''Jean-Jacques'' (1987) was made during two years chronicling the town of

Octeville-sur-Mer Octeville-sur-Mer (, literally ''Octeville on Sea'') is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department, Normandy, northern France and is twinned with Bourne End (Bucks) in United Kingdom since 2003 and with Furci Siculo (Sicily) in Italy since 2010. ...

, where he lived, through the eyes of Jean-Jacques unjustly considered the "village idiot". His third feature-length film ''Marcel, prêtre'' (1994) was shot in Raulhac (Auvergne, Cantal) over a period of several years. During 2005 he researched locations in preparation for the film ''Sous-Marin'' for which he spent four months underwater aboard a

nuclear attack submarine An SSN is a nuclear-powered general-purpose attack submarine. ''SSN'' is the US Navy hull classification symbol for such vessels; the ''SS'' denotes a submarine and the ''N'' denotes nuclear power. The designation SSN is used for interoperabili ...

. Since then, his numerous works on human confinement have been coupled with a more contemplative photographic approach. After making his film aboard a nuclear submarine, in 2008 he started a photographic reconnaissance extending from the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

seas to the contaminated lands of

Chernobyl Chernobyl ( , ; russian: Чернобыль, ) or Chornobyl ( uk, Чорнобиль, ) is a partially abandoned city in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, situated in the Vyshhorod Raion of northern Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. Chernobyl is about no ...

in the

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

(2008, 2009) and

Fukushima may refer to: Japan * Fukushima Prefecture, Japanese prefecture ** Fukushima, Fukushima, capital city of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan ***Fukushima University, national university in Japan *** Fukushima Station (Fukushima) in Fukushima, Fukushim ...

, Japan (2012). Concurrently, within the same project, he started a series of mountain landscapes that will be published in the book ''D’après Nature'' (2010) and for which received a second Nadar Prize. During 2010 and 2011 Gaumy re-embarked on voyages aboard the "Terrible", the latest French submarine SNLA dedicated to nuclear deterrence, and in 2013 joined the international scientific team BB Polar with which he went to Spitsbergen and

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...

(2013, 2014 and 2016)

Bibliography

*''Jean Gaumy'', Actes Sud. Coll PhotoPoche. Text by Alain Bergala, 2010 *''D'après Nature'', Xavier Barral, France. English, Italian and French texts, 2010 *''Pleine Mer'', La Martinière, France, 2001, ; ''Men at Sea'', Harry N. Abrams, USA, 2002, ; ''Mare Aperto'', Contrasto, Italy, 2002; ''Auf hoher See'', Knesebeck, Germany, 2002 *''Le Livre des Tempêtes à bord de l’Abeille Flandre'', Seuil, France, 2001, *''Le Pont de Normandie'', Le Cherche-Midi, France, 1995, *''Les Incarcérés'', L’Etoile/Cahiers du Cinéma, France, 1983, *''L’Hôpital'', Contrejour, France, 1976,

Filmography

*''Sous-Marin'' (video, color, 5x25'), 2006 *''Marcel, Prêtre'' (16mm, color, 42'), 1994 *''Jean-Jacques'' (16mm, color, 52'), 1987 *''La Boucane'' (16mm, color, 35'), 1984

Awards and nominations

*Institut de France (Academy des Beaux Arts), 2016 *Named Peintre Officiel de la Marine, 2008 *

Prix Nadar The Prix Nadar is an annual prize awarded for a photography book edited in France. The prize was created in 1955 by Association Gens d'Images and is awarded by a jury of photojournalists and publishing experts. The prize is named after Nadar, t ...

, France, 2001 et 2010 *Prix du film document de Belfort (for "Jean-Jacques") France, 1987 *Nomination for a César Award (for ''La Boucane'') (short-documentary category) France, 1986 *Prix du premier film au Festival du Film Ethnologique, Paris, France, 1984

Collections

* National Maritime Museum of Paris, France * Centre Beaubourg, Paris, France *Public Collection, the National Library, France * National Photography Foundation,

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

, France *

collection,

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

Magnum Photos Preliminary Inventory of Its Collection in the Photography Collection at the Harry Ransom Cente

External links

Gaumy's Cats

An art historical analysis of Gaumy's prison photographs for ''Les Incarcérés''

Magnum Photos Biography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaumy, Jean People from Royan Living people French photographers Magnum photographers 1948 births French photojournalists